The American Culinary Federation (ACF), Inc., the largest association of professional chefs in North America, held its 2011 ACF Western Regional Conference at Talking Stick Resort, Scottsdale, Ariz., April 29-May 2, 2011. More than 25 chefs, students and chapters were honored at the conference, which was the last regional conference of the 2011 events series. Now all regional award finalists look ahead to the ACF National Convention in Dallas, July 22-26, 2011.

Hosted by ACF Chefs Association of Arizona, Inc., the ACF Western Regional Conference brought hundreds of chefs, cooks and foodservice professionals together for networking, competitions and professional development opportunities at cooking demonstrations, business seminars and a trade show. The American Academy of Chefs (AAC), ACF’s honor society, gave a $1,000 grant to the Western Region Student Team Regional Champions, ACF Bay Area Chefs Association of Oregon, to assist the team with expenses to travel to the national competition.

Here are the 2011 Western Region award winners who will compete against their regional counterparts in Dallas: